Gold-saving apparatus.



E. H. GAGNN,

GOLD SAVING APPARATUS. y APPLICATION man nowza, 1915.

1,186,304, i Patented June 6,1915.

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E.H.GAGN0N. GOLD SAVING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23| IQIS.

.y u. 6 1) 1. ,m wz 6, n m Y E L Q W v. h m m un. @MW @M m m nm ERNEST H. GAGNON, OF BILLINGS, MONTANA.

GOLD-SAVING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June e, 191e.

Application filed November 23,1915. Serial No. 62,956.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, ERNEST H. GAGNON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Billings, Yellowstone county, Montana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Gold-Saving Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accom.- panying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of one form of machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan v'iew of the same, and Figs. 3 and 4 are detail sectional views, the two views being taken in planes at substantially right angles to each other, of a portion of one of the distributing pipes.

My invention has relation to apparatus for saving gold, and is designed to provide simple and effective apparatus by means of which the fine flour gold, which is largely lost in the present methods of treatment, will be saved as well as the coarser gold.

My invention is particularly applicable to the treatment of gravel and sand from placer diggings, or the ,treatment of the dirty water from such diggings; but may also be used in connection with dry diggings. It may also be used in quartz mills in lieu of copper plates for catching the gold.

Thenature of my invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which I have shown a preferred embodiment thereof and which will now be described, it being premised, however, that various changes can be made in the details of construction and arrangement of the parts, without departing from the spirit and scope of my'invention as defined in the appended claims.

In these drawings, the numeral 2 designates a Jfoundation of any suitable character, such as concrete. 3 is a framework supported by this foundation and shown as suitably anchored thereto at 4. Y

5 is a receptacle supported on the yframework 3 and within which is seated a distributing cone 6.

7 is a hopper over the apex of the cone 6 and supporting the framework by means of the adjustable brackets 8, having suitable adjusting means 9 by which the relationof the bottoni discharge opening of the hopper may be changed with respect to the apex of the cone.

The annular portion of the receptacle 5 surrounding the base of the cone 6 is provided with a plurality'of vertical perforations; and in each of these perforations is secured, preferably by threading, the upper end of the depending pipes 10. These pipes, of which a relatively large number is provided,`extend downwardly into an annular trough 11 which is partially filled with quicksilver, as indicated at 12.v Preferably the lower end portion of each pipe 10 is contracted in one dimension and enlarged in its other'dimension, as indicated at 13 and 14 in Figs. 3 and 4,' so as to effect a betterdistribution of the material discharged therefrom into the quicksilver. A In practice, I prefer to use pipes of a diameter of from 1 inch to linches. i

The trough 11 is supported upon a series of anti-friction rollers 15 suitably mounted upon the foundation 2, and is arranged 'to be slowly rotated in any suitable manner.

For this purpose VI have shown it as pro@ vided with the' annular toothed rack 16, whose teeth are engaged by a pinion 17 on a driving pulley '18 which may be driven by any suitable source of power. Y 4

The operation of the apparatus in placer work is as follows: The diggingsl are first passed through a suitable screen of sayl or inch mesh, which separates the finer material from the coarse stuff. This fine stuff| is discharged into a suitable sluice-bo-X, (not shown) together with a flow of water and is discharged into the hopper 7 the hopper being so adjusted that the flow therefrom will be evenly distributed over thesurface of the cone 6. The material flowing down over this cone passes into the annul lar portion of the receptacle 5 surrounding the cone and from there runs into the pipes 10. The weight of thewater and sand in the receptacle forces the material down through the pipes 10 into the body of quicksilver which, being so much heavier than thesand and water, will always remain at the bottom, while the force from above will cause the sand and water to ooze through the quicksilver and over the outside rim of the trough 11. The flattening of the lower ends of the pipes 10 causes the sand and water .the shaft 18. This shaft is shown as having dischargedV therefrom to be spread and thereby brought more effectively into contact with the quicksilver.. The amalgam being heavier than the quicksilver settles down into the smaller bottom portion lla of thc trough 11.

During the operation, the trough is slowly rotated, say at a speed of two or three revolutions per minute. This is for the purpose of permitting the quicksilver to constantly change its relation with the material which is being forced into it. lf a jet of water, for instance, is forced into a body of quicksilver, the tendency is for the water to make its own channel and come out whole at one place, but if the quicksilver be moved relatively to the material discharged into it, it will close over such material and the latter has to seek different channels. In this manner, the material being treated constantly has a new place in the body of quicksilver and the latter is at the same time brought into direct contact with the gold. *Whether the gold is in the sand or in the water, it will thus be saved.

`When the time comes for a clean-upf7 the flow of sand in the apparatus is stopped and water only is passed in for a few minutes. The rotary motion of the trough is then stopped and a few of the pipes 10 are removed. The trough is provided with drainage plugs 20 and 21. The plug 2O is first removed, thus permitting all the water remaining in the trough and pipes to drain oil. T he plug 2l is then removed, and the quicksilver which is not amalgamated is drainer off. This leaves nothing but the amalgam which can be scooped out and retorted in the usual way. rlhe trough is then refilled with quicksilver and everything is ready to start over again.

l have shown the foundation as having a suitable trough 22 below the trough l1 for the purpose of receiving the waste from the latter. rlhis waste may be carried olf at Q3 to anyr suitable place.

The advantages of my invention will be apparent to those familiar with the art. rlhe manner in which the material treated is brought in contact with the quicksilver results in the saving of the very line flour gold which is lost in the usual method of treatment, as well as the coarser gold Large quantities of material can be treated since the apparatus may be made of large capacity. The cost of treatment is very small and the operation could be made profitable even though the savings per unit of material treated may be relatively small.

rlhere are many diggings in this country in which relatively large quantities of fine gold are lost and where .my invention may be applied to great advantage.

l claim:

l. A machine of the character described, comprising a trough adapted to contain mercury supported for rotation, means for rotating the trough, a fixed receptacle above the trough having a series of distributing conduits depending into the trough below the surface of the mercury, said conduits being spaced. from thecenter of the receptacle, and said conduits having elongated ilattened discharge ends the major axes of which eX- tend in the direction of rotation; substantially as described.

2. A machine of the character described, comprising an annular trough adapted to contain mercury, a receptacle supported above said trough, and having a distributing cone therein upon the outer surface of which the material lto be treated is discharged, and also having a perforated bottom portion overhanging the trough, a plurality of distributin g pipes communicating with the perforations of said bottom portion and depending into the trough below the surface of the mercury, means for imparting relative movement to the trough and the distributing pipes, the distributing pipes having flattened end portions, the major axes of the mouth of said pipes extending in the direction of relative movement; substantially as described.

ln testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my handa ERNEST H. GAGNON.

llilitnesses NBL V. Bruns, V. H. MGNUTT.

Eopies of this patent may ce obtained :for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Intenta. Washington, Il). G. 

